Awkward
by AmethystAmble
Summary: AU: Written for the prompt "Hey, we hooked up last night and it turns out you are my child's teacher." When Lily spends the night with a gorgeous guy she thinks that's that when she leaves in the morning, only to get the surprise of her life that evening. One-Shot. Jily.


Lily woke slowly.

She turned over and allowed herself to enjoy the smooth, cool shifting of the bed sheet over her torso, a small, cheeky smile gracing her lips as she recalled exactly why she could feel it against her _bare_ skin and then she slowly opened her eyes, blinking in the morning light.

The curtains to the bedroom Lily didn't know were closed but they were also thin, letting in the bright sunshine of early May, meaning that the light had woken her up. She didn't mind, it was useful to have the wake-up call, but she allowed herself to enjoy the moment of quiet for a minute.

Movement finally drew her from her thoughts as the other occupant of the bed – James, she recalled – turned over in his sleep, his messy, dark hair contrasting with the pillow behind his head. Lily bit her lip as she looked over at him, remembering his gorgeous hazel eyes and how cute he looked with his glasses on, and then sighed, slipping from the bed in one smooth, silent movement.

She picked up pieces of clothing quickly and slipped them on, glancing at the clock on his bedside table briefly. She was glad to see that it only read 6:45. Thank goodness it had been a bright morning.

Normally Lily would never have done anything like this – she was sensible, as everyone was so fond of saying – she didn't just go out, on a Thursday night no less, and pick up a guy. Except that was exactly what she had done. She hadn't meant to, it had just happened…she still blamed his eyes.

Those eyes that she'd stop still for from across a room, those eyes that had shone as he grinned, those eyes that had become pools of burning caramel as he'd look her over from head to toe…yes, Lily most definitely blamed his eyes.

Still, the fact remained that at 9 O'clock Lily would be required down at Godric Hollow's local primary school, Wethersfield Green, where she would be taking her class of Year Ones, tired or not. So, pulling on her tights and slipping back into her dress from the night before, Lily thanked her lucky stars that the heels she had worn weren't too high, that the dress wasn't too obvious, and that she was only a 15 minute walk from her house which was, in turn, only 10 minutes from the school.

Taking one last glance over her shoulder and sighing wistfully, Lily made her way to the door, her eyes fixed on James as she nipped through it and closed it softly behind her. If only she'd got his last name or maybe his number…perhaps she should have left her own.

She shook her head – she had much more important things to focus on in life and if he'd wanted her number surely he would have asked her, there was nothing more to it – and slipped down the stairs of the nice, cosy house. She took in the décor in the new morning light; impressed by how tasteful it was for a guy living alone, and she was just tired enough that she failed to notice a few important things – like the child's drawing tacked up on the door to the cupboard under the stairs, or the book on 'Merlin: The Great Wizard!' which sat on the side table in the hall.

The only thing that made Lily pause was a pair of shoes. She halted beside the front door, one hand already out to grasp the latch, and tilted her head slightly. There was a pair of wellies, red with gold stripes, sitting on the shoe rack. They were far too small for a grown man, they couldn't possibly belong to James, but there was something uncannily familiar about them.

Thinking of time, however, Lily shook the thought away, pulled open the door and stepped out into the spring sunshine. Running a hand through her vibrant hair, she smiled and took a deep breath of fresh air. Well, she thought, glancing back at the lovely little house, it was certainly a night she wouldn't be forgetting in a hurry that was for sure.

* * *

"DAAAAAADDD!" was yelled at an unreasonably high volume through the house and James bit back a groan from the comfort of his bed, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

A second later his bedroom door flew open and Harry bounded through it – speedy and energetic as five year olds frustratingly tended to be at all inappropriate hours – making his way quickly across the room to jump onto the bed and straight onto James's chest.

Grunting slightly in pain, James rolled the little tyke and mercilessly began to tickle him, not stopping until Harry was squealing in delight and both of them were squirming breathlessly. When they finally calmed slightly James sat up, pulling the boy into his lap and ruffling the untidy hair they shared.

"Hey Harry, how was your night with Uncle Sirius?"

"Oh it was just divine, wasn't it Harry?" drawled a clearly amused voice from the doorway and James looked up to beam at his best friend as Sirius arched an eyebrow. "Though I doubt it was as good as _your_ night, eh, Prongs?" James just chuckled and winked in reply as Harry nodded from his lap.

"Yep, it was great! Sirius let me stay up till _nine-thirty_ –"

"Oh, thanks a lot, Padfoot."

"You are so welcome, Jamie."

"–and I helped Moony read _two_ bedtime stories and then they took me to school this morning and Remus got to chat with Miss Evans about all the reading we'd done and she was _so_ impressed!" Harry finished, gulping in a deep breath. It never ceased to astound James how long small children seemed to be able to go without breathing but it amused him nonetheless.

"Ah so Remus got to meet the infamous Miss Evans before me, eh?" James asked, smiling brightly at the pleased look on Harry's young face.

He'd heard a lot about 'Miss Evans' over the last year as she had quickly become Harry's favourite female on the planet. She took Harry's Year One class at the local school and had hair that was 'on fire' according to Harry, so James presumed she was a redhead, but he'd never met the woman himself. He always dropped Harry off at the school gate and the one parent's evening he'd meant to attend with her back in November, he'd been working late and had sent Sirius along instead.

Harry nodded in answer to his question but it was Sirius who actually replied. "Yeah she's as nice as ever, I can see why the kid likes her – seemed a bit more tired than the last time I met her, if I'm perfectly honest though…but maybe Harry's been wearing her down over the year."

James just nodded. "Ah well, at least I'll get to meet her this evening, since I can actually go to this parent's evening instead of you – I bet she's beginning to think you and Remus are bringing him up."

"That's because we are bringing him up, partly – you'd have had a heart attack and died in the first week without us. On another note, James, are you planning to get out of _bed_ today? It's four O'clock in the afternoon."

"Do you know the meaning of the word _hypocrite_ , Padfoot?"

"Shut up, you lazy ass."

Chuckling, James grabbed Harry about the waist, depositing him on the floor next to the bed, as he needed to actually put on some clothes before he could start wandering about the house…he really had enjoyed the previous night. "I'll be down in a minute, mate, alright?"

Harry happily ran off towards the door, slipping past Sirius and tearing down the stairs while Padfoot turned to smirk at him, pointedly eyeing the thin sheet. "Oh you _definitely_ had a good night."

James just threw a pillow at him, delighting in the satisfying thump it made as it connected with Sirius's face.

* * *

"It was lovely to chat with you again, Miss Evans."

"You too," Lily said with a smile, shaking the hand of Mrs Weasley, who she was unbelievably familiar with at this point owing to the woman's many children, and watched as the Weasley cohort all moved on, Ron, the second youngest and her current student, waving as he went.

With a sigh, Lily glanced down at her list once more. She actually had a break, a rare, beautiful thing, for the next ten minutes and then she only had the elusive Mr Potter left to chat with before she could leave for the evening. Mr Potter was the father of little Harry, by far one of her favourites – though she _knew_ she shouldn't have them – but she had yet to even see his face.

The last parent-teacher conference she'd held, Harry had turned up with a man that he had hurriedly and excitably explained was his godfather and who Lily could happily have compared to some sort of runway model. She'd never seen cheekbones like that in her life and she doubted she ever would again. Still, Sirius Black had been nice enough, seeming to be close with Harry and with the boy's ever since mysterious father, and so she'd taken it in her stride.

Now that it was May, however, Lily was almost curious about the man. She'd met almost everyone there was to meet apart from Mr Potter himself, she was sure, as she'd seen Sirius a few times over the year and met Remus Lupin, another family friend, just this morning, but not once had Mr Potter or any female addition appeared to her. She knew that Harry was brought up by Mr Potter without a mother because she'd often heard Ron and Harry talking about it. Harry had also once asked her if _she_ had a mother, something that had made her heart ache for the boy, but she also knew how much he adored his father, and was presumably doted upon in return, as he spoke about him a lot.

Lily took a sip from the bottle of water on her desk, taking a moment to refresh before the 'big reveal' and glanced at the clock on the back wall of her classroom. She had just three minutes until she was meant to meet with the Potters.

The door opened the moment she had capped her bottle and set it down once more, though, and Lily glanced up with a smile as Harry bounded in, beaming at her.

He hurried over to her desk and hopped into one of the chairs. "Hello, Miss."

"Hello Harry, where's your father?"

"He's coming." Harry said with a still brighter grin and not a moment later a man, younger than she'd expected, skidded to a halt outside the classroom door.

"Harry, mate, you've got to chill with the running I'm getting old over here." Lily bit back a laugh as Mr Potter, still looking at Harry so she couldn't quite see his face, strolled over. At the last second he turned, holding out his hand. "Hi, I'm James—Potter…"

He turned to face her but froze and Lily's jaw dropped.

"Oh my god," she whispered, unable to stop herself. "Oh my _god_ ," she repeated, her words shifting higher in pitch without her realising, and she felt heat rise in her cheeks.

Looking back at her, equally wide eyed, was James. _Her_ James, the James she had left sleeping soundly in a bed this morning in a house that was too nice, in a house with _familiar wellies_ , and his eyes had remained the same delicious, heated dark brown. She could do nothing but stare.

"Holy shit," James muttered under his breath.

Harry immediately gave a dramatic gasp, pointing at his father. "You said a bad word."

"Oh dammit–"

"You said another one!"

James seemed to wince and then quickly sat down beside Harry, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You are not to repeat either of those, okay? Not for another ten years at least…"

Startled to see the man who had been biting down on her neck and making her moan louder than she possibly had in her life _parenting,_ Lily let out a slightly startled laugh. James glanced up at her once more and this time a smile pulled at his lips. Flushing, Lily looked down at her notes, shuffling them needlessly, and bit her lip to try and stop herself grinning.

She cleared her throat. "I knew I recognised those wellies in the hall." She said conversationally, glancing upwards once and shaking her head, and she was more pleased than she should have been when James let out a bright laugh. He shook his head likewise when she looked over at him.

"Yeah…well, I suppose calling you Miss Evans seems a bit ridiculous now, doesn't it?"

"Just a tad, I think, _James_." She said, a cheeky smile spreading onto her face. He returned it, grinning boldly, and she didn't look away when his eyes ran over her like the night before.

"Dad, do you know Miss Evans?" Harry asked, swinging his legs back and forth on the chair.

James smirked. "In a manner of speaking, yes, I do." Lily snorted and tried subtly to turn it into a polite cough. "We met recently, in a different place."

"Does that mean you got to meet her before Uncle Moony after all? You can tell him you won!" Harry said, looking quite pleased with this result, and Lily could only shake her head.

James chuckled and ruffled Harry's hair and for the first time Lily didn't look at him as the man she'd met the night before, but as Harry's father. Suddenly she knew exactly where Harry got his bright, cheeky nature. She knew that he was pretty much a carbon copy of his father, right down to the glasses and the messy dark hair, and she wondered why on earth that made her like _both_ of them even more than she already had. She glanced between the two and smiled slowly.

"So," she began. "I suppose I should actually give you the teaching opinion at some point tonight."

James nodded, still looking amused, and Harry shifted forward in his chair a little. "Sure."

Determined to focus for at least five minutes, Lily actually got out her notes. She recounted everything they both needed to know in terms of Harry's progress, in terms of his relationships with the other children, and what he seemed to be doing best or worst in. When she came to behaviour in the classroom and the playground, she had to smile.

"He's very well behaved for the most part," she said, smiling at Harry, but then she turned to James and raised an eyebrow "But he can be quite cheeky…he and another boy can be particularly rude to one another at times – Draco Malfoy is his name, I don't know whether you know the family?"

James laughed a little more awkwardly for the first time. "Yeah that's an old, long story – mark it down to family rivalry dating back decades…as for the cheekiness, well, that's my fault all over."

"I'd never have guessed." Lily said, her lips twitching, and James gave a lower chuckle, holding her eyes for just a little too long. She looked back at him and licked her lips briefly before forcing herself to look away once more. "Well, I think that's all really. All round he's a lovely boy to teach." She finished with one last, kind smile to Harry, who beamed back at her, his green eyes sparkling with happiness. She silently noted for the first time that they were oddly similar to her own.

Father and son both stood up and Harry immediately hurried for the door, outside of which the Weasley's were standing, organising themselves. Lily walked with James to the door and then paused with him beside it as Harry ran up to Ron and began chatting animatedly.

"You don't think I could have a private word with you, just briefly, Mr Potter?" she said, sending him a subtle smile and trying to be as professional as possible in earshot of other parents.

James grinned but then glanced at Harry. "Uh, I really can't, I've got no-one to leave Harry with."

Mrs Weasley, overhearing this, looked up and waved away the look on James's face. "Oh don't be silly, dear. I'll take Harry for a moment. I'm sure it's something important."

"Oh, thank you Molly." James replied with a kind smile, making Lily wonder whether everyone knew everyone in this village. With a polite nod to Mrs Weasley, Lily stepped back and quietly closed her classroom door, shifting away from it and back towards the centre of the room.

She turned back and faced James. "So…" she said, biting her lip over a smile.

"So," James replied with a grin, shaking his head. "I cannot believe I've slept with my son's teacher."

Unable to hold back anymore, Lily laughed and was glad when he followed her. "Well it seems this is the peril of not meeting you at the _first_ parent's evening."

"That's a peril I'm entirely happy about, believe me." He said, looking her up and down once more, in a far more obvious manner than previous. He took a few steps closer and Lily smiled up at him, amusement lighting her eyes as she tilted her head back to look up at him.

She raised an eyebrow. "If you're thinking about kissing me in my classroom, think again."

He pouted. "Oh but why, it's such a good thought."

He stepped in even closer and Lily reached out before she could think about it, resting a hand on her chest and letting all the memories of the night before rush back to her.

"Hello Lily." he murmured finally, his eyes dark with desire and she smiled up at him.

"Hello James." She whispered back.

A second later and they were kissing. She was in _so much_ trouble if they got caught but right in that moment she just didn't care because it was so good, it was deliciously familiar and, she realised, even with only the short time that had passed since this morning, she'd already been missing those lips against hers. He kissed like no-one she'd ever met.

"See, fantastic idea." he said breathlessly against her lips when they finally came up for air and Lily couldn't resist wrapping her arms around his neck and grinning.

"Ah well, perhaps I'll let you have that one, Mr Potter."

They both laughed quietly and then he leaned in once more, softer and slower this time, and pressed a lingering, burning kiss to her lips. Lily numbly thought that she could rather get used to having him there, against her, and that she just might keep it that way…


End file.
